The head of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said on Saturday meetings he had with Syria's new leaders in Damascus were a first step towards ending years of strained relations on chemical arms under Bashar al-Assad.

Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa met in Damascus on Saturday with a delegation from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), led by its director-general, Fernando Gonzalez.

The head of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), a global non-proliferation agency, will meet Syrian officials in Damascus on Saturday, three sources familiar with the visit told Reuters.